Ship drifts towards gas platform in North Sea

LONDON, Jan 11 (Reuters) A 3,000-tonne cargo ship is adrift in the North Sea and heading towards a gas platform, rescue services said today.

''The calculation is that some time between 9 and 11 (o'clock) tonight (0230-0430 hrs IST) is the very clear possibiltiy of a collision between 3,000 tonnes of ship and a gas platform,'' Michael Mulford from RAF Kinloss told Sky News.

Tony Tewton, watch manager for Humber Coastguard, said the ship broke down in very poor weather this afternoon nine miles (14 km) from the Murdoch gas platform.

''At the rate it was drifting at first it would have hit the Murdoch within two hours,'' Tewton told Reuters.

The ship's drift was slowed by lowering its anchor.

Twenty of the 30 people on the Murdoch have been airlifted to another platform. Helicopters were on standby to evacuate the rest and the ship's crew of nine if its engines could not be repaired in time, Tewton said.

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